Thread: Xhosa (Silene Capensis) African Dream Root - Log and Discussion

I stopped trying as I'm pretty sure my batch is no good. I might try again in a few weeks with a new order but in the meantime I'm experimenting with datura and valerian root. If I do order some in the future though I'm gonna make sure it's coming over seas from south africa, hoping it'll be fresh and more potent.

I'm sure it works, theres lots of reports that suggest it does, I'm just curious why it hasn't proved successful any of us yet. Anyway let us know if you do try again!

I still can't get mine to foam, even after being pulverized into a face-powder consistency with a mortar and pestle. I've tried twirling a wooden spoon, and closing the jar and shaking it until my arms feel like they're going to fall off. All I get is a few bubbles that disappear quickly.

With that said, and with some hope that the root is not totally bogus, I'm going to drop about 1/2 teaspoon in my morning and evening tea every day until it's gone. I usually don't eat for 2-3 hours after my tea, and my evening tea is usually 3-4 hours after dinner. Wish me luck!

Sub

OK, I am finally seeing (dreaming) some results. I've been putting a good 1/2 teaspoon+ in my morning and evening tea. Recent dreams have been really strange compared to most of my dreams in the past which, for the most part, followed a believable life storyline. A few of my recent dreams have been straight up "off the wall". I find them quite entertaining, however I seem to lose my lucidity or wake up a lot quicker now. I absolutely must work on stabilization and control, two of my weak spots.

I intend to continue putting it in my tea until it's all gone, then I may consider buying another ounce of it. It seems to have a very slow effect buildup, mine taking about 10 days before I have noticed any significant results. I must say that it was a big disappointment when I couldn't get the foam on the water that everyone mentions, however I think that it is still quite effective when brewed in tea.

Morning blend, ~7:00AM (for 3 cups):
3 tsp Yerba Mate
6-8 Hawthorn berries, crushed (vasodilator)
1 tsp Catuaba bark (stimulant)
1 tsp Chamomile (flavor)
1 tsp Ginger (stimulant, blood thinner)
1/2 - 1 tsp Silene capensis (chopped, then crushed)
1/2 - 1 tsp maple suger added for sweetness

Evening blend, ~7:00PM (for 3 cups):
2 tsp Silver needle white tea
6-8 Hawthorn berries, crushed
1/4 tsp Chamomile
1/2 - 1 tsp Silene capensis
1/4 - 1/2 tsp maple suger added for sweetness

Notes:
After boiling, I allow the water to cool to 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit (82-85 degrees Celsius) before I add it to my tea mixture. This helps to reduce the amount of tannin that's extracted from the tea, making it much less bitter when allowed to steep for 20-30 minutes.

I added the Hawthorn berries in early February 2011 to help lower my high blood pressure and eliminate Raynaud's phenomenon. This is my natural alternative to Procardia XL (Nifedepine ER), which thoroughly destroyed my ability to dream (or recall dreams) during the latter part of 2010.

Thats interesting. I'm going to have to try this at some point.

*bump

Hoping this thread hasn't died. Has anyone else had even a partial success with this at all? I'm certain that I'm starting to experience positive results, but they took much longer than expected to show up; taking about 14 days for me.

Perhaps the roots that I (and maybe others) received are old and the active constituents have degraded or oxidized over time. I'm tempted to get another ounce and continue putting it in my tea for a while longer.

That sounds like a good idea. Try it and report back

Hello everyone, I'm Spore
I just found this forum for the third or fourth time and finally decided to make an account! I found this thread and am hoping to revive it (although there could quite possibly be others that are similar).

I am on my 5th day of using African Dream Root and i will maintain a journal on here if anyone is still interested?

Day one and two prep:

All of this was done within half an hour of waking up.

Boiled water in a tea kettle (one mug full)

Prepared like normal tea, using powdered roots. I do not have a scale and have been estimating with 1 teaspoon doses (i believe they are a bit high)

left to steep for about half an hour, added honey to reduce the odd Raw potato-like flavor. (although the raw powder tastes sweet)

Drank and waited atleast half an hour to an hour before eating food.

Dreams:

Both nights i went to bed after heavy use of Cannabis. I remember no dreams from the first two nights, but it is said to take 3 days for effects to take hold.

Day 3 and 4 prep:

After doing more research i found that the traditional method was done by frothing it in room temp water.
So I decided to switch my preparation to this method.
About half a tall glass of water out of the tap and again about one teaspoon of root.
Contrary to other posts I have seen, my root foamed up fairly well the first time, used a plastic stirring spoon and a glass to mix.
Took a good amount of spoonfuls of foam. I basically went until i did not feel comfortable taking more.
Again did not eat for at least half an hour.

Dreams:

Day 3

Light effects are felt after taking it in the morning (possibly placebo)

I went to bed after using Cannabis again, my dream remembrance was terrible of course. But i do feel as if i was dreaming through the night fairly vividly.The small amounts I remember are very odd and real feeling. I distinctly remember sitting with Kanye west in a convertible with my arm around him while having our pictures taken by fans. I can very clearly remember seeing and feeling sweat on his bare arms, as if he just finished a show. Keep in mind he is not somone i take any interest in.

Day 4:

Today, i used cannabis but a couple of hours before i went to bed, this seemed to help.

My dreams were long and fairly vivid. I have had dreams like it before and although i am glad i dreamed through the night, The dreams seemed to have a sort of darkness or dark cloud lingering in them, for example, the sky is usually grey (seems to be a common theme in my dreams).

I distinctly remember 4 different settings and scenes... So i guess that counts as 4 dreams? Not sure how i count dreams hahaha.

My last dream i felt as if i was being chased or watched, i woke up and had a lasting anxiety. And oddly enough, at first i thought i didn't dream at all and i was just laying in bed being pissed off that i didn't dream. Then it all just came back. Keep in mind i remember small patches of these 4 dreams not the full dreams themselves. I did not write them down because i had to get up and get ready unfortunately.

concluding...

My main goal with experimenting with this is to help achieve lucidity and really just have good experiences that have a lasting impact on my daily life... while im asleep!

I am 17 years old so i hope that starting early on this lucid stuff will really benefit me

Thanks, hope to have some good experiences with this forum
-Spore

(Also a graffiti artist if anyone is into that)

Originally Posted by Sporehed

Both nights i went to bed after heavy use of Cannabis.

Why don't you take a break from Cannabis during the time you take Silene Capensis! I have no personal experience with cannabis, but I've read countless accounts by others to the effect that cannabis more or less destroys their ability to have dreams at all. It seems to be one of the most effective ways not to dream.

I suggest giving Silene Capensis a real chance by dropping the cannabis for the duration of your experiments.

At any rate: good luck with Silene Capensis. I have tried it myself, without earth-shattering success, and I will definitely try again in the not-too-distant future.

I really like cannabis haha, it will be tough but i may have to.... For science. I think it is having effects on my dreams but i agree that the cannabis is most likely really impacting my dream recall. Because both nights where i have not been fried and gone to bed i didn't immediately remember my dreams, it was very strange. It's like all of a sudden the dream just comes to me as a memory but at first i think i haven't dreamt at all. (I will update the journal while im at this)

Day 5:

Prep the morning of, same as usual. foam and take spoonfuls of foam until bloated.

Dreams:

So i woke up and felt like I didn't dream... but something inside me was saying I did. I tried really hard to remember anything, but no luck.
Also note that i woke up a couple times in the night and did not remember a dream i was in or anything, and I tried to.
But all of the sudden at around 1Pm i saw a picture of a guy holding a fish and suddenly i remember a small portion of my dream last night where i was reeling in a fish for some guy and the fish turned out to be this other worldly looking beast that was like 30 ft long... But that's it.

I have already smoked today but i will not be smoking past this point (4:30 pm) so that will give a solid amount of time for the herb to exit my system a bit.

I will also note that i did not take any root this morning as my alarm didn't go off and i almost missed a bus. I may do a couple froths on my empty stomach (its been 5 hours) just to give some effects but i have seen some people have prolonged effects.... hmm.


-Spore